Paul Rouet received this photograph through our Internet Webb site and the enquirer hopes we will be able to identify the location, the occasion and the date. The wall in the foreground is decorated with garlands and the road is lined with people who appear to be looking either up the road to the right, or at the carriage in the foreground. There appears to be some sort of opening or footpath leading out of view to the right and a lady with large hat heading in that direction! The crowd is concentrated opposite the opening rather than being spread up the road, suggesting that the arrival will be from that direction, rather than from the railway station itself.

On the wall is a notice which reads: ‘LONDON & NORTH WESTERN Ry WAY TO THE STATION AND BOOKING OFFICE’. The position of this also suggests some form of passage from the right otherwise there would be no need for such a sign part way up the approach.

The railway vehicle is a D.445 with number beginning with 35 or 36, which can only be 359, which was part of the first batch of D.445 built in 1892.

The picture is thought to have been taken by a Mr. H. W. Cooper, the post-master at Ilkeston, Derbyshire around 1904. Prior to this he was at Huyton, Liverpool; Helston, Cornwall and possibly Clitheroe, Lancs. Of these, only Huyton was directly connected to the LNWR, but can anyone please confirm the location and/or suggest what the occasion may have been?